Second Luzerne County Election Board member resigns

Luzerne County’s five-person election board now has two vacancies because board Vice Chairman Peter Ouellette resigned Thursday, effective immediately, saying he can no longer endure some conditions.

“Of concern to me over the last year has been creeping partisanship on the board and unfounded, often withering criticism and accusations from within and without the board,” Ouellette wrote in his resignation letter. “I have come to dread Board of Elections meetings.”

The board’s chairmanship seat also is vacant because Jeannette Tait resigned at the start of this month.

Tait cited personal reasons and did not elaborate, but some blamed repeated criticism and attacks from regular board meeting attendees, including Council members Walter Griffith and Stephen J. Urban. Election board member Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt had defended the two council members, saying she believes they provide “constructive criticism.”

In his resignation letter, Ouellette said he is not advocating compensation for election board members, but he noted he has sacrificed time and expenses for travel, parking and parking tickets during his four-year tenure. The board serves as an independent citizen body to oversee elections, make determinations on flagged ballots and write-in votes and certify election results.

“The greater cost has been the detrimental effect on my mental and physical health and on my family,” Ouellette wrote. “I have considered this action for some time, and I regret the fact that I cannot serve out my entire term.”

His seat was set to expire the end of this year.

On Wednesday night, the evening before Ouellette’s resignation, council’s Authorities, Boards and Commissions (ABC) Committee discussed a communication from Griffith criticizing Ouellette and calling for his removal.

Griffith’s email said Ouellette’s public announcement seeking citizen applicants for the board chairmanship contained requirements that are not authorized in the county’s home rule charter — voter registration that has not changed for five years and a record of participating in voting.

Ouellette has said the same process was used to seek a chair during his four years on the election board, and nobody had questioned it. He also said he would abide by a legal determination that is being prepared by the county law office.

Ouellette was listed as an attendee of Wednesday’s ABC Committee meeting, but he did not speak.

The committee did not specifically discuss Griffith’s proposed removal of Ouellette but generally agreed the county should develop a procedure for potential removals on any outside county board.

County Assistant Solicitor Michael Butera told the committee a proposed removal must provide a board member with due process to respond and that the power to remove does not include the right to defame, slander or make false accusations against someone.

“You have to be very careful about the way you do it and why you do it,” Butera said, cautioning the county could be subject to litigation.

Ouellette said Wednesday’s committee discussion was “part of a long line” of factors that prompted him to leave. He also was reluctant to again invest many days reviewing election results after the upcoming May primary with the expectation of being “attacked” by critics who don’t personally witness the detailed adjudication process that is open to the public. This post-election adjudication takes significantly more time with the popularity of mail voting.

Under the county’s home rule charter, council must appoint two Democrats and two Republicans to the board, and Ouellette filled a Democrat seat along with Audrey Serniak. Keith Gould and Dombroski-Gebhardt are the Republican board members.

The fifth board member and chairperson seat is filled by the four council-appointed election board members. There is no party registration requirement for the chairperson in the charter.

In his resignation letter, Ouellette said he enjoyed his service to county voters for most of his board tenure and has “had the privilege of serving with dedicated, sincere, concerned, competent” board members and county election bureau and administration employees.

“The Board of Elections volunteers I have worked with strove to act impartially and provide the voters of Luzerne County with transparent, free and fair elections. I am certain they will continue to do so,” he wrote. “However, the events of 2020 are both a source of pride and a source of concern.”

As mandated by state legislation, the county implemented both a new voting system and voting procedures last year, he said.

The county held “secure and accurate” 2020 primary and general elections for a record number of voters, he added. More than 154,000 voters participated “without incident” during a pandemic and under “intense scrutiny,” his letter said.

“The complaints, though a concern, were largely of the types perennially dealt with,” he wrote. “The legal teams from both campaigns, the press and independent observers in the end, praised our effort.”

County council is expected to declare both board seats vacant at its meeting on Tuesday — a step necessary to move ahead with filling them.

The election board is set to meet virtually Wednesday. Even though it is down two members, the charter says three members of that board is a quorum with power to perform board functions. The board had planned to re-advertise the chair opening after council’s vacancy declaration and interview applicants on March 10.

In the case of Ouellette’s vacancy, four Democrats are currently on the running eligibility list for possible council appointment: John Chernesky, Diane Dreier, Patrick Smith and Barbara Wilder.

Tait is the second board chair to resign in a little over the year, and the two current board vacancies come as the bureau is without a permanent election director. Applications for the director position are due Wednesday. Veteran bureau staffer Andrea Hill was appointed interim director.

Two deputy directors also resigned since the summer for positions outside county government. Eryn Harvey has been hired as the new deputy and is expected to start work early next month.

County Council Chairman Tim McGinley on Thursday thanked Tait and Ouellette for sacrificing their time.

“They did it as volunteers and put in many hours and put up with a lot of stress. We appreciate their service,” McGinley said.